The old harbour zone of French city of Lyon was adorned with a fascinating orthogonal cube into which a giant hole was carved, creating the proper conditions for light, air circulation and views. The Orange Cube project combines spaces for commercial and cultural developments, like the Cardinal Group headquarters or the Design Showroom RBC. The sustainable architecture contains elements that work together to create a versatile space with offices, design showrooms and a large top-floor terrace with astounding views of Lyon, la Fourvière and Lyon-Confluence. Choosing orange paint, Jakob + Macfarlane Architects made a connection to lead paint, an industrial colour often used for harbour zones. The 5 levels of the structure are penetrated by a hole “piercing the building horizontally from the river side inwards and upwards through the roof terrace. In order to create the void, Jakob + MacFarlane worked with a series of volumetric perturbations, linked to the subtraction of three “conic” volumes disposed on three levels: the angle of the façade, the roof and the level of the entry. These perturbations generate spaces and relations between the building, its users, the site and the light supply, inside a common office program.”
source : freshome